Tone King Metropolitan Combo 40-watt, 1x12 tube combo designed by Mark Bartel. Two channels with tube driven reverb and power scaling.
Tone King Metropolitan?
Less well-known than some of Tone King’s amps (such as the Imperial) the Metropolitan offers the same fantastic made-in-USA design and build-quality but in a more compact, single speaker combo with distinctive tone shaping and a unique and useful power scaling that retains the amps tone anywhere from bedroom-level practice to large venue volumes.
This is a cathode-biased two channel amp (‘Rhythm’ and ‘Lead’) with the Rhythm channel aimed at a range glassy, sparkling mid-60s fender-type clean tones, but with a greater range than that and the Lead channel that offers fatter vintage tweed sounds through to more driven mid-forward overdriven tones.
Tone shaping on the Rhythm channel has a ‘bright’ switch and a wider range tone stack than traditional fender-style. The treble and bass here offer a wider range of tones, changing the voicing as well as the tone. The Lead channel offers a ‘mid bite’ tone control that simultaneously rolls off high frequencies, develops an upper-mid range peak and tightens up the bass. This is incredibly intuitive and lets you dial in anything between traditional tweed tones through to more bluesy drive to rockier overdrive sounds.
The Power Scaling is disguised as a per-channel master volume but works completely differently - the circuit lets you crank the output tubes for natural compression and sustain at whispering bedroom levels or moderate club volumes without shifting your core tone and scales the power from 40w down to 0.1 watts.
Specifications
Power Output: 40 Watts down to 0.1 Watts (via built-in Power Scaling)
Speaker: 1x12” custom-designed Eminence speaker
Tube Complement: 6V6GT (x2), 12AX7 (x4), 12AT7, 5AR4
Channels: Two independent channels (Rhythm/Clean and Lead)
Effects: Tube-driven spring reverb.
Condition
This 2013 example is in superb condition internally and externally. On the outside, the all-wood case is showing no real signs of damage: the tolex and grill cloth are both in excellent shape and the panel, handle and other hardware are all very clean.
Internally, the amp has been thoroughly checked and shows no issues. All caps and resistors are still in ‘as new’ condition, and the tubes (TAD preamp tubes, 4 × TAD 6v6 and a Fender 5AR4 rectifier) test as new. There is no bias adjustment necessary on these amps as they are a cathode-biased design.
Inspection, delivery and collection
Collection in person from Southampton would be ideal as you can then play and check out this amp before completing the sale. If you are serious, I will reserve the amp so that you don’t travel for nothing.
I am also happy to do a video call (Teams, Zoom, Facetime etc.) if you want to go over the amp without making the trip - again, just message me to organise.
UK shipping on this amp will be available by dedicated courier (recommended) with a lead time of up to 2 weeks depending on the courier’s availability. I can also ship this amp using ParcelForce (it is around 28kg packed) which will be quicker but less secure.
International shipping is feasible but would be expensive, and note that this is a 240v only amp (export model) so would require a separate transformer to be used with other voltages.
Tone King Metropolitan Combo 40-watt, 1x12 tube combo designed by Mark Bartel. Two channels with tube driven reverb and power scaling.
Tone King Metropolitan?
Less well-known than some of Tone King’s amps (such as the Imperial) the Metropolitan offers the same fantastic made-in-USA design and build-quality but in a more compact, single speaker combo with distinctive tone shaping and a unique and useful power scaling that retains the amps tone anywhere from bedroom-level practice to large venue volumes.
This is a cathode-biased two channel amp (‘Rhythm’ and ‘Lead’) with the Rhythm channel aimed at a range glassy, sparkling mid-60s fender-type clean tones, but with a greater range than that and the Lead channel that offers fatter vintage tweed sounds through to more driven mid-forward overdriven tones.
Tone shaping on the Rhythm channel has a ‘bright’ switch and a wider range tone stack than traditional fender-style. The treble and bass here offer a wider range of tones, changing the voicing as well as the tone. The Lead channel offers a ‘mid bite’ tone control that simultaneously rolls off high frequencies, develops an upper-mid range peak and tightens up the bass. This is incredibly intuitive and lets you dial in anything between traditional tweed tones through to more bluesy drive to rockier overdrive sounds.
The Power Scaling is disguised as a per-channel master volume but works completely differently - the circuit lets you crank the output tubes for natural compression and sustain at whispering bedroom levels or moderate club volumes without shifting your core tone and scales the power from 40w down to 0.1 watts.
Specifications
Power Output: 40 Watts down to 0.1 Watts (via built-in Power Scaling)
Speaker: 1x12” custom-designed Eminence speaker
Tube Complement: 6V6GT (x2), 12AX7 (x4), 12AT7, 5AR4
Channels: Two independent channels (Rhythm/Clean and Lead)
Effects: Tube-driven spring reverb.
Condition
This 2013 example is in superb condition internally and externally. On the outside, the all-wood case is showing no real signs of damage: the tolex and grill cloth are both in excellent shape and the panel, handle and other hardware are all very clean.
Internally, the amp has been thoroughly checked and shows no issues. All caps and resistors are still in ‘as new’ condition, and the tubes (TAD preamp tubes, 4 × TAD 6v6 and a Fender 5AR4 rectifier) test as new. There is no bias adjustment necessary on these amps as they are a cathode-biased design.
Inspection, delivery and collection
Collection in person from Southampton would be ideal as you can then play and check out this amp before completing the sale. If you are serious, I will reserve the amp so that you don’t travel for nothing.
I am also happy to do a video call (Teams, Zoom, Facetime etc.) if you want to go over the amp without making the trip - again, just message me to organise.
UK shipping on this amp will be available by dedicated courier (recommended) with a lead time of up to 2 weeks depending on the courier’s availability. I can also ship this amp using ParcelForce (it is around 28kg packed) which will be quicker but less secure.
International shipping is feasible but would be expensive, and note that this is a 240v only amp (export model) so would require a separate transformer to be used with other voltages.
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